Barcelona welcome Dani Olmo – but right now, he still can't play in La Liga
The first-team players each stepped out onto the Montjuic turf as their names were announced over the stadium speakers. The last to make an entrance were the two summer signings, Dani Olmo and Pau Victor.
Olmo, a €60 million arrival made official on Friday, clearly received the most acclaim. He stopped at a central stage in the middle of the pitch, showed off a few keepie-uppies, and was then passed a microphone.
In the stands, president Joan Laporta and sporting director Deco were smiling and applauding. Olmo is the big name they had been looking for for weeks. He has to be a reason, alongside a fresh new generation of La Masia graduates, to make fans believe this coming season can be different from the last.
On the pitch, however, Barcelona’s performance didn’t match up with the messaging. Barcelona lost 3-0 and deservedly so, in their worst pre-season performance.
Olmo did not feature in the game. Victor put in his best effort but missed two clear chances. Robert Lewandowski looked out of sync with the rest of the team. Ilkay Gundogan left the pitch injured after a knock on his head. The youngsters who impressed in the United States tour didn’t have their best game either.
Concerns start to build, though, as you look further into Barcelona’s squad depth right now. Barcelona still can’t register new players with La Liga until they fix the financial problems that have seen the competition body cut their salary limit. Right now, new signing Olmo is not eligible to play at Valencia.
In that very same situation is Inigo Martinez, who played the full game against Monaco. He is not registered with La Liga right now either, and his absence leaves Barcelona with limited options at centre-back. Ronald Araujo is out injured, Jules Kounde will be needed at right-back, and Andreas Christensen might well be required in defensive midfield. That leaves Pau Cubarsi and Eric Garcia, who have just come back from the Olympics.
Casado can be expected to start on Saturday too if free of injury. Like Bernal, Casado is still registered as a youth team player but signed a new contract this summer. The other problematic case is Victor. He too was at Barcelona Atletic last season, but on loan from Girona. Now he has signed, Barcelona need to register him from scratch.
Last week, Barcelona announced what the club sees as a key development in attempts to fix a €100 million hole in their accounts and bring themselves in line with La Liga’s salary limit. Barca hopes this will be a step towards satisfying La Liga enough to register their existing and new players. It is even claimed Deco plans to add a left winger to the squad. But also key will be player departures. Julian Araujo is set to sign for Bournemouth, and Vitor Roque has finally agreed that leaving on loan can be a good step to take. However, moving on Clement Lenglet and Ansu Fati would go much further to helping cut their wage bill.
In all this context, a 3-0 defeat by Monaco is not exactly what Barcelona needed to lift their spirits. Flick will look for a way to do that at Valencia but be ready for another dramatic end to the summer transfer window.